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Armor plate

I'm involved in a project where I need to weld one inch armor plate tabs into a 1x6 inch slot. 1/8th inch bevel around the tab . The object is to make a weld as well as possible to attach the tab and slot without deteriorating the properties of the armor plate. Looks like a 3/8th inch penitration will do the trick. Currently using .35 wire with pulse tig. Almost there but poor repeatability. Anyone ever had this dilema?

well i dont know if you are in the desert or not but this is what happened when i was there we were welding armor plate and we made these sand boxes if possible and we would pre heat the area and we would weld the area
then we would pack that area in the finest sand we could fine for as long as we could afford it. But if you are welding on the armor vehicle be sure to disconnect the battery and in that case we would preheat the area weld the are and take a torch and attempt to bring the temp of the weld slowly.
i dont know your situation i wish i did i just got back from the desert myself good luck

Nebraskaboy, thanks for the input. I'm in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix,AZ.
Lived in Lincoln for four years, worked at Duncan Aviation.
Warming up the material does add some stability to the weld parameters and add a certain amount of repeatability. The heat becomes an issue when the second tab is welded in the same piece of material. i'll let you know when we solve the problem. Perhaps you may need the info someday. Go Big Red!

if you have a pic of what you are doing i am really interested in what you are doing. I just got off the phone with one of the boys in the box and him and i are designing some more armor to keep us crazy *** boys alive over there so i am really interested in what you got its not for money by all means its to keep me and my guys a live money is just a by factor if it comes thats cool but the pure factor that i know i helped save a life is priceless

armor plate

I regret that I am unable to discuss the project as it is classified information by the Navy. I can say however, that to keep the integrity of the armor plates it is best to use straight mig with 90/10 gas, .045 wire and a minimum bevel, about 1/8th bevel@ 45 degrees for the weld area. 26 V 390 Amps. gives a consistant one pass 3/8" pen. Holds the steel together without compromising the hardness. Not meant to be a structural weld only a good assembly weld. Hope this helps. Semper Fi

well brother
i can understand i am a seabee if you are familiar with them and i understand the classification but i you want to talk to me more bout it here is my email bignebchevy@yahoo.com and maybe we can talk more i have a lot of experience with armor plate and armor since i was the top 3 people in country to deal with these issues
with compassion for others we build and fight USN SEABEES

well to be honest i know how the navy works and we 9 times out of ten dont have the correct tools for the job and i dont know what he has to work with but yeah thats why i recommended the sand pack to slow cool it